Ticketworthy! - Weapons

There may not be a movie in 2025 with as much hype and anticipation around it as Zach Cregger’s Weapons. Stories of terrified test audiences abound. Rumors have swirled that modern horror icon Jordan Peele wanted to produce the film so badly that he fired the team that failed to acquire it for him. The phrase “scariest movie of the year” has been used more than once. To put it mildly, the film has something of a massive reputation to live up to. That’s a real shame, because frankly it just doesn’t pull it off. It’s still good, and definitely deserves plenty of praise, but in a year that has produced some truly spectacular horror movies, I just don’t see Weapons standing out.

The premise of the film isn’t terribly complicated. 17 elementary school students all leave their houses at 2:17 in the morning and vanish into the night. Every single one of them belonged to the class of Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), so naturally the entire town believes she’s to blame. In order to clear her name and get answers, Justine begins investigating the disappearances herself and discovers there’s something very strange going on.

If that sounds like an extremely basic horror story, that’s not because I’m leaving out some thrilling details. It really is pretty much that simple. Yes, there’s a “twist” near the end that adds a little spice to the narrative, but it’s nothing you won’t see coming a mile away.

Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. The Exorcist is a fairly straightforward story, and it’s a horror classic. Alien, Halloween, even Peele’s own Nope, all of these are absolutely fantastic movies that do a lot with a simple narrative. It’s all about how the story is framed and what you do with what you’ve got.

In the case of Weapons, Cregger chooses to stretch the story out and hide its simplicity by constantly shifting perspectives. There are half-a-dozen characters that we follow through the events leading up to the climax, each getting their own time to shine. Each of them is interesting and well-acted, the performances are a real plus in this movie, but it does make it a bit hard to get adjusted to or root for any of them. There are also some plotlines that just didn’t need to happen and don’t add anything. The film is over two hours long, and it feels like it loses sight of its own plot somewhere in the middle. It also can’t seem to settle on a tone, drifting from terrifying to goofy seemingly on a whim and making it a bit tough to take anything seriously.

Still, as I said, the acting is superb. There are no angels among these characters, they are all deeply flawed and the stress of what’s happening brings out the worst in them. The cast does a great job selling those sides of them while still making them almost universally likeable. It’s an impressive feat. Garner and Josh Brolin are both standouts.

Cregger is equally impressive behind the camera, particularly in the first section when we’re following Justine. He uses noticeable, clever techniques like long tracking shots and camera pans that follow character’s eyelines to drag the audience into the scene. It all looks great, and it’s really fun to watch. He’s clearly a talented director and I genuinely believe he’s going to produce a horror masterpiece one day. This just isn’t it.

Maybe it’s not fair to be hard on a film like this for not living up to the hype. It’s still quite good, after all. I don’t think anyone predicted that it would find itself surrounded by stacked competition among 2025 horror movies. One can hardly blame it for not rising above the rest. Still, it does so much right and is so often enjoyable that it feels like a real shame that it’s only just good instead of great. As is, Weapons ends up being a wasted opportunity that’s missing something more than just a class of children.